


Fitful Rest

by MistressAkira



Series: FE Rare Pair Week 2k17 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, FE Rare Pair Wek 2k17, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, RIP me, Rare Pairings, Sad Fluff, it's sad but kinda sweet, they both have nightmares after the war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-01 23:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10203020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressAkira/pseuds/MistressAkira
Summary: Even after the war ended, the nightmares never went away.Thankfully, neither did Henry.Written for FE Rare Pair Week 2k17; Day 1, prompt: cursed/blessed/rest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 1 of the FE Rare Pair Week! Prompt: blessed/cursed/rest.
> 
> I’m writing this out of order (and extremely late), gomen haha.
> 
> I went for all three of the prompts, since they fit the pairing so nicely. This is actually a pairing I ship really hard, and though I’ve seen a few Hen/Lissa fics around, there are not nearly enough! So I must contribute!
> 
> I own a box-set of the special edition of Fire Emblem Fates. I do not own Fire Emblem.

Even after the war ended, the nightmares never did.

Lissa used to think Henry was impervious to them; she’d seen him on the battlefield- he was the stuff of nightmares himself. But not even he was spared their wrath in the interim.

She always woke first, in a crying, screaming fit. Sweat or tears or both coursing down her face, body shaking so hard it was like all her bones rattled together in fright too.

Henry was always a light sleeper (something about during his third year at that magical school we went to, all the students had to hex someone without getting caught, so most of them did it while the others were asleep and as such Henry adapted to it), and usually woke right up when Lissa started freaking out. However, when he was having a nightmare, he slept so deathly still and deep that Lissa had to physically rouse him awake.

His red eyes would open slowly, his breathing never changing from that of normal sleep, but the slim trails of tears running down his face would give him away. Lissa had been so startled the first time she’d seen him crying like that, she’d burst into tears herself, but now she just pulled him to her chest and held their terror between them until it faded away from their embrace.

Henry used to be so fascinated by her nightmares. He’d ask her questions like: ‘what were they about, ‘how did you feel during them’, as if he’d never had one himself before. But it wasn’t until after they’d been married that she’d learned he’d never had.

“Hey… what do you dream about?” She’d asked one night she’d awoken from a particularly bad nightmare.

Henry had settled her in his lap, stroking her hair softly in a comforting way. “Nothing much. Nothing at all really. Can’t remember ever having a single dream, ever!”

Lissa’d scoffed. “That sounds like a blessing. The things I see sometimes… it makes me never want to sleep again.”

“I guess. But it also means I don’t get any cool or nice dreams either. For instance, I’ve never dreamed of you.”

“I suppose that it’s more of a curse then!” she’d laughed, and let the subject fall.

Henry’s first nightmare had happened shortly after they’d rescued Owain. He’d been so startled, if Lissa had to put an emotion to it, she would have called it fear.

“W-what h-happened?” Lissa had asked, still in tears over the sudden change in Henry.

He placed a hand to his face, drawing it away and staring dumbfounded at the tears that dripped down his finger. “I… don’t know. It was like… I could see and feel everything happening, but it wasn’t real.”

She was still crying, but now she was so relieved she started laughing through the tears. “H-henry… that was a dream.”

His expression changed when he’d looked at Lissa then. “A dream… that was a dream?” His hands fell to the blanket around them, holding tight to it as he gritted his teeth.

“Yeah. It must have been surprisingly, huh? After never having one before.” Lissa grabbed his hand, rubbing it reassuringly. “What was it about?”

“I dreamed that you died. Right in front of me.”

It was the only dream that Henry seemed to have. His recurring nightmare, over and over again, Lissa would die and he’d wake up crying.

Her nightmares centered around so many things, creating grim fantasies of all of her life’s tragedies -Emmeryn’s suicide, Robin’s death- and casting shadows over the things that might’ve, could’ve happened- if Naga had rejected Chrom, if Owain died in birth, if Maribelle had died that day in Gangrel’s hands, if Henry hadn’t helped them that night on the Isle, if Henry ever betrayed them, if Henry ever died because he just didn’t care enough to continue living.

Was it better to fear a hundred deaths, or just one? Was it a blessing or a curse to never dream only to have nightmares?

Lissa didn’t know. Henry never got used it regardless. So for now, she’ll comfort him because he never left her when she needed him, and they’ll made do with the nightmares. She’d never slept so soundly before she had him beside her. It was only fair that her nightmares became so sharp now with him as well.

Tonight it was her nightmare that woke them up, and tonight it was Henry who kissed her forehead and talked her down from her nerves. Tonight, the rested in each other’s arms, and tomorrow they’ll do the same, because they loved each other so much that they dream of the other’s death.

And know that even when the nightmares leave, the other won’t.


End file.
